


she will be loved

by adashofhope



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, Light Angst, Shitty it must feel for mj, Unrequited Crush, also highkey it seems like all she ever thinks about is peter, and i hate myself for that, at those two at hoco, but i can't exactly include mj thinking about kicking some nazi ass in this plot, i can't elaborate more on how, i wrote this because, i've used every synonym of heartbroken, it just breaks my heart, it's a little ooc because this is more focused on her thoughts ABOUT peter, mj's perspective of homecoming, to see peter with liz, when i see those photos of her looking longingly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 06:05:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13229595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adashofhope/pseuds/adashofhope
Summary: michelle wants to go to the homecoming dance.the lanky white boy that sits next to her in chem gets her attention.(as told per the events of spider-man: homecoming)





	she will be loved

**Author's Note:**

> listen to just a little bit of your heart by ariana grande, blue by troye sivan, war of hearts by ruelle, she will be loved by maroon 5 and every angsty song ever to dial up the angst to a hundred.

Homecoming.

Michelle rolled her eyes as she passed by the giant banner on her way to the Chem lab.

She took a seat next to Peter –who was as distracted as ever, by some chemical he was making behind his textbook and placed her chin in the palm of her hand. Homecoming was a stupid, cheesy, irrelevant thing…that would be nice to go to.

 _No, MJ_ , she reminded herself, and she shook those absurd thoughts out of her head.

Still, she found herself staring at Peter and whatever formula he was scribbling down on his notepad, thinking about going to Homecoming.

For the next few classes, she chided herself on thinking about something as stupid as Homecoming when she needed to focus. She couldn’t change the world by sitting on her ass and thinking about what it would be like to go to the Homecoming dance with Peter Parker!

Though, later that night as she was lying in her bed and staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars she put on her ceiling years ago, she thinks that maybe it wouldn’t hurt her to go to this one dance. Besides, it wasn’t like her to lie to herself. Michelle Jones was straightforward and she was honest and she was blunt.

 _Yes_ , she decided, sitting up on her bedframe. Michelle Jones is straightforward and she’s honest and she’s blunt. If she wanted to go to a dance with a lanky white boy that she may or may not have a crush on, then she’s going to do it. She’s not going to spend her days staring at him longingly from across the cafeteria table and dwelling on whether or not she’s going to a fucking high school dance.

She’s meant to ask him out on the trip to the Decathlon Finals but he’s at the back with Ned, both of them whispering urgently about something. She walks over to them when they finally reach DC and attempts to start a conversation but leaves after 3 minutes, chuckling to herself about their mindboggled expressions.

She steels herself in her hotel bedroom, giving herself a little pep talk in the mirror as Cindy’s changing into her swimsuit in the bathroom. She stops herself, and becomes a little skeptical of Peter, because there had to be some sort of reasoning behind him rejoining the team all of a sudden. Rolling her eyes at her own nosy behavior, she tells herself that she’s just going to casually ask him to the dance while everyone else is busy at the pool.

She waits on a pool chair, smiling a little when the rest of the kids splash at her from the pool as she reads her book. From the corner of her eye, she sees Peter in his little hoodie staring down at the whole team longingly.

She rolls her eyes. Did he have to be such a dramatic little shit all the time?

But then he’s shaking his head and running off somewhere, like he always is and she’s half tempted to chase after him. To at least, see what he’s been up to all this while. She’s getting out of her lounge chair when Sally pulls her into the water. There’s a beat, and everyone’s silent until she lets out an unusual giggle and everyone’s laughing. Even Flash.

And she has fun that night.

Peter flakes on the team and she’s a little mad at him for letting her down. Well, not exactly letting _her_ down, but she was a part of the team and it sucked that he bailed on them at the very last minute.

She glares at Ned a little more when Liz asks him for the millionth time, “Where is Peter?”

But she sees the worry in Ned’s eyes and she knows that he genuinely doesn’t know where Peter is. That this isn’t one of their little nerd schemes and that Peter is actually missing. Her heart sinks a little when they’re called onto stage and Peter isn’t with them, but she tells herself to focus. She loves Liz and the rest of the team –although she doesn’t show it- and she would never ever let them down.

They win.

They win because of her, is what Liz tells her with a bright smile on her face as they hug outside the Washington Monument.

She’s never smiled this much around them and everyone is buzzing with energy as they walk up to the Washington Monument. She even tolerates Flash’s comments about kicking Peter out of the team because she’s _happy_.

 _She’s happy_.

Sally hugs her for the second time before they all go up to the monument, and soon it becomes a group hug and MJ closes her eyes, as Abe and Flash try to irritate the rest of the group. There’s a sparkle in her eye when they all pull away and she’s never smiled so brightly, she’s sure of it.

She makes a comment about the Washington Monument being built by slaves and Liz says, “That’s why I love you, MJ,” as she catches up to the rest of the kids who are obliviously excited over visiting this huge monument for the first time.

She’s reading, and she’s smiling down at her book, unable to concentrate on the words until everyone’s running away from the building and, _oh god, oh god, please don’t be up there_.

The security guard who’s ushering everyone away from the building nods apologetically when she asks him if those kids from that Decathlon Competition were up there. Her heart is hammering against her chest, and the cries of the general people are muffled by her panicked thoughts in her head. Her hand is shaking, and she places it on her hip in an attempt to stop it from happening.

_Think, Michelle. Think._

Then, she sees a flash of red and blue and she hears a familiar high-pitched voice and there he is. New York’s Spider-Man standing right in front of her as he stares up at the building.

She wants to do something. She needs to do something. Someone has to do something.

“Hey!” she calls out, and he turns to look at her and something about his build and posture is so familiar and calming. “My friends are up there!”

Spider-Man’s eyes widen and he’s sputtering something about everything being ok before he runs up to the building to save her friends.

One by one, they emerge out of the building and MJ hugs all of them.

Yes, even Flash.

Sally’s hand is shaking and MJ holds her until they’re all together again and they’re all in their own little bubble of safe. Liz, despite nearly falling to her death, comforts everyone and MJ does her best to do the same.

When Peter shows up that night at the hotel, and everyone’s done taking the piss out of him, she approaches him, “You’re an asshole.”

He looks at her like she’s crazy, “What?”

“You’re an asshole for flaking on us, but most importantly, for going missing in DC until after our teammates were saved from falling to their deaths.”

Peter looks a little confused at first, but then his face relaxes and he tilts his head, smiling at her like he has finally understood her secret language, her own personal way of telling him that she was worried about him and Michelle feels her heart skip, “Sorry, I was a dork.”

She smirks a little and nods, before walking away.

He’s walking away too, when she remembers, “Hey loser!”

He’s looking at her now, with those big, brown eyes. “Try not to die around here, alright? I’m not partnering with Flash for our lab assignment in Chem.”

Peter smiles at her, nodding a little before jogging away in the direction of his room.

 

This is it.

It’s her final chance to ask Peter out to Homecoming. She’ll admit, the whole DC incident distracted her and she totally forgot about Homecoming until she saw Liz and her friends, selling tickets to the dance.

The plan is simple. She’ll put up some act about Homecoming for the whole day, and at lunch, she’ll start a conversation about Homecoming with Peter and Ned. When they both whine about not having dates to the dance, she’ll offer to go with one of them –out of pity- as friends.

The only problem now was that if Ned didn’t have a date and she ended up accidentally asking _him_ out to Homecoming instead, but she tells herself to look at Peter as she casually offers to take them to the dance.

She sees Peter at his locker and she figures that it’s easier to go up and start a conversation with him now about the dance, and hopefully casually ask him out to the dance too. She’s walking to him, but then he slams his locker shut and Ned’s on the other end, gushing about something.

She pauses, casually leaning against an empty space between a locker and a classroom as she makes sure that it’s ok for her to walk in.

“I can’t believe you asked Liz to the dance, and that she said yes! Dude!”

“I know! Dude, I’m going to Homecoming with Liz!”

And they both freak out in the middle of the hallway.

At that, Michelle crumbles.

Of course, Peter had a crush on Liz. The whole school knew he had a crush on Liz. What was she thinking? Did she really think that he wouldn’t have mustered up the courage to ask Liz out to the dance? How could she- how could she have been so naïve?

Did she really think that Liz would’ve rejected him?

She spares a glance at Peter and her heart drops in her chest. He’s…Peter. He’s Peter Parker and he’s caring, kind, selfless, smart, sweet, adorable, and he’s the reason her heart flutters when his eyes light up as he talks about Star Wars. He’s the reason she tries to hide her smile when he rushes into a classroom, right as the bell rings, apologising profusely to the teacher. She can’t exactly blame Liz for saying yes.

The bounce in her step is gone when she walks past them to the cafeteria. She clenches her jaw and stalks into the cafeteria, sitting at an entirely different table because she really doesn’t want to hear about Peter and Liz right now.

She doesn’t notice the knowing look Ned gives her when she walks past them, or the sad glance he sends her way when she’s staring at a wall, feeling the emptiness in her chest.

She thinks of all her unanswered calls, texts and her voicemails. And oh man, she should’ve known.She knew that she never was The Girl, but she never expected for it to hurt this much. And this is why she should never get her hopes up.

 

Later at Decathlon, as Peter takes every chance to smile at Liz whenever she asks him a question. Or as Liz chuckles to herself after he answers her questions with enthusiasm, Michelle leans against the wall and doodles in her sketchbook aimlessly. There aren’t many questions directed at her today, so when Sally stares down at her and asks her if she’s ok, she shrugs, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You just looked a little sad today,” is what Sally says, before returning to her seat.

Michelle schools her expression into her usual bored, but slightly intimidating expression. She looks down at her sketchbook and realises that she’s been sketching Peter, in all his happiness and giddiness. She stares at the wide smile on her paper and she sighs, closing her book and stuffing it into her bag.

Practice is almost over anyway.

When practice officially ends, everyone’s buzzing about Homecoming. Michelle heads straight for the door, biting on her lip to maintain the neutral expression on her face.

But then, Ned’s asking her to wait up and she must look heartbroken when she turns around to face him and Peter because they both stop and take a step back. Nevertheless, Ned drags him over to her and she avoids Peter’s concerned gaze.

Ned steps in front of her, “Hey, Michelle. Do you have a date to Homecoming?”

She sees Peter’s eyes widen as he stares at his best friend in shock, from over Ned’s shoulder. Her expression is tired and withdrawn as her gaze bores into Ned’s eyes. She looks drained and heartbroken and devastated and everyone seems to notice it because she sees the remaining Decathlon members behind them stop packing up and stare at her in worry.

She shakes her head, “No.”

She turns around to leave when Ned asks, “I don’t have a date either. Wanna go together? As friends?”

Ned knows.

That’s why he’s doing this.

Ned’s smiling at her comfortingly, in that friendly way, and she decides that she does want to go with Ned. She smiles, soft and small, her voice barely audible as she says, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

She tucks one of her curls behind her ear and then Peter speaks, “Are you uh, ok? Michelle?”

And maybe, when she looks over at him, her gaze lingers for a beat too long. “I’m fine.”

 

She picks Ned up at his house, and they take a bunch of weird, totally uncouple-y photos with each other and Michelle has a genuine smile on her face. Then, they arrive at the dance and everyone is already there, dancing and having a good time. She finds herself staring at the entrance every now and then, waiting for someone to arrive.

And then Liz enters, alone.

Michelle would be lying if she said her heart didn’t soar for a moment as she thought of all the possibilities. What if Peter liked her back? What if Peter realised that he had always liked her and was about to make some grand, romantic gesture that MJ was going to pretend to hate?

But Peter does walk in, looking a little shell shocked, and Michelle allows herself to break a little. The worst part of it all; is that she’s not even mad at him like she’d usually be at anyone else for unintentionally hurting her.

Ned’s waving at him excitedly, so she flips him off –as a form of greeting, of course.

She feels silly for being this hurt and shattered over a boy, but when he makes a beeline for Liz, she doesn’t bother to hide her true emotions. She wanted him. She’s wanted him ever since he smiled at her at the beginning of freshman year after she returned his glasses that he left in class.

Liz leans in, and Peter looks like he’s about to lean in, so she looks away and stares at her dress.

She feels her heart aching, but then she sees him pull away from Liz before anything happens and run off in some other direction. Everyone stares at Liz, and soon, Ned’s running after him too.

Michelle motions for the Decathlon team to approach Liz and they all spend the night together, and she pushes Peter to the back of her mind.

 

 

Charles exclaims. Startled, she looks up to find the whole Decathlon team clapping for her. She wants to ask the question, _Why me?_

She looks to her right and Ned’s grinning at her as he claps for her like the supportive friend he is.

Friend.

But then she looks forward and Peter’s clapping too, and he’s staring at her with his big, brown eyes and his lips are curled into a small, smile and Michelle pointedly looks at Mr Harrington because she is not going to be able to deal with Peter looking at her, _like that._

“Uh, thank you,” she says, a little awkwardly. “My friends call me MJ.”

“I thought you didn’t have any friends,” Ned says, smiling.

“I…didn’t,” but she doesn’t sound sad when she says it.

And then Peter gets a text and he’s about to leave and Michelle is not going to let him go that easily without toying with him a little, “Hey, where you going?”

Peter stops, and he stares at her, his mouth trying to form some sort of excuse.

She leans forward intimidatingly, “What are you hiding, Peter?”

Peter looks between her and Ned. Ned shrugs, looking between him and MJ as he panics.

MJ chuckles, “I’m just kidding, I don’t care.” She waves at him dismissively, “Bye.”

Peter walks away slowly and they both don’t realise it, but something sparks in him. Something new. And Peter knows that this is certainly, not the end.

**Author's Note:**

> ok i'm @/softboyholland on tumblr, if you wanna chat or send requests or prompts or specific aus. i write everything except for smut.
> 
> i'm on twitter @/floofyparker if you ever wanna scream
> 
> yep that's it. don't forget to talk to me!


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